Arthur H. Bird (1856-1923)

[eschiss1]

Any particular familiarity here with the music of Arthur H. Bird (1856-1923)? American composer, wrote a fair number of compositions for piano, orchestra, winds, etc. His serenade for double woodwind quintet, Op.40 of 1898(?) can be heard in a free online download (at the Soni Ventorum website) and I think has been commercially recorded a couple of times as have I think one or two others of his works; also several of his works can be seen in score/etc. at IMSLP... but I can't claim to know his work well, myself, or his biography, either, besides what little it says at Wikipedia (there may be a longer bio elsewhere, which I will seek later too...) -- anyone?

[chill319]

Hey, Eric. I assume you know Bird's Carnival Scene, opus 5 -- a most piquant polka, with some spicy dissonances that are not that far removed from, say, Mahler during the same decade (the 1880s). I was excited to hear more Bird after getting to know the Carnival Scene and hoped that he had authored works along the lines of van Reznicek's Schlemihl. Alas (unless I am confusing his bio with that of George Templeton Strong), I believe the rest of his artistic life can be summed up as being similar to Rossini's after William Tell -- Bird married well-to-do and liked to keep things light. Nothing wrong with that. Had he returned to the U.S. I wonder if he would have been more like a Gilbert, who drew inspiration from black music. In the event, he stayed in Germany, and such as it was his reputation stayed with him.

[eschiss1]

There is a recording of his somewhat later-published (1892) (& composed?) 3rd little suite for orchestra available on YouTube from a commercial recording, also.  (The serenade for double quintet Op.40 (not published until 1985, I think...) downloadable @ the Soni Ventorum quintet site was, I think, composed even later still, sometime 1898-1901. Haven't listened to these yet but will do so soon. The early symphony does intrigue (me) also...)

(Also see Artis Wodehouse on Bird's Op.37 pieces.)